ABLT - alibillylilytate

One more day and the flagstone patio should be complete.  Yesterday half of the grouting was done.  Bill, the contractor, will be here today to finish that off.  It took a lot longer than we thought, but we love it.  Billy's favorite part was watching the big rain storm the other night - all the rain now goes into the back yard, and not down the hill under the deck.  Here also are some family pictures of Lily at 10.5 months. 

You may want to turn the volume down.  Billy bought this ball for Lily, and she loves it.  He was showing her how to kick it around today - and you can hear - there was a little excitement on her part.  If she's like me, she will be sooooo athletic :)

A couple of days of shots here.  We start with Lily rocking the Pants on the Ground look.  Next is day 11 of construction.  You can see Gracie is convinced the new patio is being built for her.  We end with shots of day 12.  Almost done with the stone. We hope 2 more days and they will be done, so they can move on to another task.  We hope.

Progress of the patio on day 10.  We are in day 5.5 of laying stone.  It takes a really long time, but we are very happy with the way it is looking.  I just hope my 4 week project, doesn't end up being 3 months long.  Here also, are Billy and Lily having some fun prior to bathtime.  She came home from Hackie's all worked up today.  Wonder if Hackie fed her too much sugar or something :)  Next time you see her, ask her to "Give you 5."  Billy taught her how to do that a few days ago - and she seems to have mastered it.

Today we celebrated Billy's 1st father's day.  It started with Lily giving Billy the presents she made and then we went swimming at the lake.  This was Lily's first time swimming in the lake.  She loved it.  30 minutes in the lake, made for 2 hours worth of afternoon nap.  She had the right idea.  Billy and I are exhausted and sunburnt.

Ali's 38th birthday was Saturday.  Here are a few shots of Lily and Ali celebrating.  We are also celebrating Lily's 3rd tooth which showed up this morning.  The last shots are day 6 of construction.  More flagstone went down.  Takes longer than we thought to put it all in.  It's an art, you know?

They started to set the flagstone today and they also started the demo of the screen porch.  We really like how the stone is turning out.  We also really like the fish face that Lily is making.  It is her new favorite thing to do while eating.

Lily found the plastic bowls today - oh, so much fun.  The concrete was poured today.  That is going to be one big patio.  That's good though.  Our driveway is a straigth shot down a hill, so with this big flat patio, she can have a place to ride around in the yard.  We think the stones will go in tomorrow. 

Not much got done today - the ground was super wet.  The form is set - more rounded than before.  I picked out the flagstone today - hopefully we can use the color I liked best.  Here are some shots of Lily from today - her 10 month birthday.  She is doing some of her favorite things; eating shoes, riding in the Bjorn, and working in the garden with her daddy.  Hopefully the concrete will happen tomorrow.  I'm already over the dog bringing in dirt and mud. 

After years of a drought, and now a year or so of constant rain and more roof and window leaks than one family should have to endure, construction started today on fixing our deck and our screened-in porch.  The deck is falling down the hill - so we thought we'd stop that.  The screen-in porch was great in theory, but it stays soaked and is a moldy pit of nastiness.  That being said, the cats love it and will miss it.  We will keep you up to date on our progress through pictures.  And, of course, here are some new shots of Lily. 10 months old this week.